letters to and from

Sergio, his Car, and his Chicken

drawn by Orlando Jordao, Matsopane School

Head Teacher, Senor Machal receives the sheaf of letters and photos from Amanda 

Lucas (left) acts as interpreter for me

We are back from a quick run to Mozambique.  This time, I had two rather special packages to deliver to Matsopane School.  The first was an envelope containing a sheaf of letters written to the children of Matsopane school by a group of primary school children in Missouri, USA.  Inspired, motivated and collected by the lovely Amanda  you can read more about the school project she put together here .

the American letters; photo cribbed from Amanda's blog post

(hope thats ok Amanda??)

Included with the letters were some postcards of her hometown, maps of USA and the World to put the distance in context; pictures of Amanda, and her friends who assisted with translating the children's questions into Portuguese. Altogether a wonderful, magical, long arm of friendship reaching out across the miles.

handing out pencils and gifts from Geli 

The second package, was a pile of stationary from Geli including  paper, exercise books, pencils, pens, crayons, sharpeners, erasers, more pencils and more crayons - oh and i added in some balloons, and a packet of magic wands. Everything required for sending replies to the letters.

inside the schoolroom built by bloggers

On my previous visit, we had handed over funds to make benches for the new schoolroom. Here they are being put to full use.  The cement floor has yet to be thrown, and Lucas decided to build out of local materials rather than bricks and mortar as it is much cooler and more suitable to the tropical climate.  It is the smartest schoolroom on the acre of sand and thats for sure!  

the very smart and sturdy benches funded by us all

made out of teak wood which should last forever

The cement floor is still in the pipeline apparently.

All the children crowded around us as we handed over the letters and stationary packages.  Some played a game of grandmothers footsteps behind my back, running and giggling whenever I turned round. It was hard not to play but to stay focussed on the conversation with their Head Teacher.

Senor Machal  was very happy with the letters and stationary package 

children receiving pencils and stationary from dear Geli 

with which to draw the Letters of Reply

I think the writing is done by the teachers, thus the children seem to have answered the questions with pictures rather than words - but every picture tells a story! You can clearly see the tin roofs, and the reed walls which are the most usual, and practical, form of building for this environment - even if they dont last forever.

fish by Fabio Vilanculos